In the bathroom, water splashed and echoed.
Outside, the night was pitch black, swept clean by a cold wind.
On TV, the news kept rolling. Capitalview First High's mobilization rally was just at the end of Evan Lin's speech, right as he announced he'd rejected Clearwater. The applause below exploded like thunder.
The girl in front of the TV frowned, still staring hard at Evan Lin's face on the screen, trying to make out his features, but her gaze was full of hesitation, unable to be sure.
Not long after, the sound of running water stopped. The door was pushed open from inside, and out walked a tall, well-built young man.
He grabbed a towel to wipe his face, raised his eyebrows slightly, and looked at the girl in front of him. "What are you watching? So focused?"
He spoke as he sat down beside her, turning his head to look at the TV, catching the final shot of the broadcast.
"I think I saw one of Ken Feng's friends..."
Mandy Yu looked uncertain as she spoke.
"Those poor losers from Whitewood County?" Hearing Mandy's words, Raymond Rong's face darkened, then he sneered coldly. "Those bastards screwed me over back in Whitewood. I still remember that debt."
"If that kid dares to show up in Jinnan, I'll make him pay!"
Raymond's face was twisted with hostility.
He'd never been humiliated like that in his life—it was pure disgrace.
Every time he thought about it, Raymond wished he could go back to Whitewood and beat Evan Lin, Ken Feng, and Han Chu into the ground.
"I probably just saw wrong," Mandy nodded. "I think Ken mentioned that guy before—he's supposed to be in high school in Minghai City, so he shouldn't show up in Capitalview. Plus, the one on TV is a student rep at Capitalview First High..."
"Of course—like those mud-legs could ever make it to Capitalview!" Raymond's face was full of disdain.
He reached out, lifted Mandy's chin, leaned in close, and sneered, "Does that Ken kid still think you've turned over a new leaf, got your act together, and are happily dating him?"
"I want him to know—a broke second-gen from some backwater, no money but loves to show off, deserves to get cheated on!"
Raymond sneered, while Mandy's eyes shimmered with tears.
"Last time he came looking for you—did he touch you?"
Raymond Rong let out a low chuckle.
"No, I never let him touch me. He wanted to, but... no."
Mandy Yu shook her head, her voice soft and frail.
"Yeah, someone like him has no right to compete with me!"
"Even a woman Raymond Rong doesn't want is still out of his league!"
Raymond burst out laughing. "So, what university did you two agree to apply for?"
"We agreed. He promised he'd get in with me, no matter what." Mandy nodded, her eyes dreamy.
"Good!" Raymond nodded. "I can't wait to see him get into college all happy, then personally crush every hope he has once he's there!"
"When that day comes, I want to see if he still has the guts to act all arrogant like he did back in that little dump!"
Raymond grinned, his face dark and cold.
Just then, Mandy Yu's phone suddenly chimed with a message.
The message was from Ken Feng, asking what she was up to.
Raymond grabbed the phone and replied: 'She’s showering.'
Then he tossed the phone aside, lifted the covers, and pulled Mandy under.
On the other end, Ken stared at the screen, waiting forever for another text. But just thinking about Mandy’s face, he couldn’t help but grin like an idiot.
After the rally, the whole Capitalview First High was buzzing thanks to Evan Lin’s speech—the study atmosphere hit an all-time high.
The guys felt like they’d woken up from a dream—none of them wanted to see the girl they liked drive off in someone else’s car. Everyone dreamed of being their own hero when the college entrance exam came.
On top of that, Evan’s rejection of Clearwater University’s guaranteed admission spread to the internal BBS at Clearwater itself, sparking a storm. Plenty of students were pissed, bluntly calling Evan arrogant and disrespectful.
Especially when they learned he’d turned down Professor Gordon Gu from the famously proud Math Department, lots of people felt sorry for Gu.
For a while, Evan Lin became the hottest gossip topic at Clearwater University.
Inside the Clearwater University math lab, Professor Gordon Gu hung up the phone, sighing in resignation.
The call was from Principal Damon Deng, apologizing to him personally. Gordon said nothing, and after hanging up, he glanced over at the girl buried in math problems at a nearby desk.
She wasn’t tall, but she gave off an aura of sharp intelligence at first glance.
Right now, she was scribbling furiously with a gel pen on scratch paper, sometimes frowning in hesitation, but soon returning to her unstoppable pace, tearing through problem after problem.
Every time she solved a question, she’d grab the giant bottle of cola on her chair, gulp down a mouthful, let out a moderate burp, then dive right back into mathematical modeling.
"He refused my invitation. Maybe he won’t come to Clearwater, or maybe he wants to get in on his own exam scores."
Gordon walked behind Jill Jing, glanced at her scratch paper, and spoke softly.
"Got it."
Jill replied without looking up, her head still buried in her work.
"Nothing else to say?" Gordon asked, curious.
Back when Gordon recruited Jill Jing from River City First High, it was for her math talent. He’d thought about recruiting Evan Lin too, but after much consideration, decided to wait.
"Not happy."
Jill yawned, grabbed her cola, and chugged a few big gulps.
"Burp..."
She burped, paused, frowned, then opened her mouth again: "Burp, burp."
Seeing this, Gordon couldn’t help laughing and shaking his head. "It’s bad enough you only speak in three words—now even your burps come in threes?"
Jill rolled her eyes and ignored him, burying herself back in her work.
That left Gordon feeling oddly depressed.
His past students had all respected him—none had ever treated him like Jill, let alone someone like Evan Lin, who not only had sky-high IQ and vision but gave him no face at all by publicly rejecting Clearwater.
"Times really have changed," Gordon muttered.
He didn’t fully understand Evan’s thinking, but he had a hunch: one day, Evan Lin would set foot in Beijing.